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No prospect has been more linked to the Nets at No. 29 than Syracuse's Chris McCullough. Both Draft Express and Sports Illustrated have him as a Net the night of June 25. He's cool with that.
"If I get drafted to the Brooklyn Nets, I want to bring home a NBA championship to my hometown," the Bronx native told Nets Daily News. McCollough also told Ravi Shah, "The Nets felt like home to me," saying he loved the questions the Nets asked him, presumably at the Draft Combine last month. He's not working out, still recovering from a torn ACL suffered in a game last January.
McCullough has potential. At 19 years old and a bit less than 6'10" (Syracuse listed him at 6'11"), he's intriguing despite the knee injury. He's long, with a wingspan of 7'3", and athletic.. He's fluid, agile and capable of hitting shots out to the three point line. He was ranked top 20 among high school seniors last year by ESPN: #7, Scout: #16, and Rivals: #13, as DX notes. And he started out like a house on fire at Syracuse, averaging 16.4 points in his first seven games and shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor.
"I think that a lot of my skills transfer to the NBA. I can run the floor, rebound, and have the size to be a good defender in the league. I can also shoot from long distance and have a solid face-up game. However, there are still aspects of my play that I can improve," said McCullough, noting he needs to work on his ball handling and consistency.
He has issues. Here are the other reasons besides his torn ACL injury that have draftniks questioning that potential. He is, as he notes, inconsistent. His motor is somewhat suspect and, as Draft Express notes, he has added only four pounds to his 199-pound frame in the past three years. Does that make him an average shooting stretch four, a tweener? And between that first great stretch at Syracuse where he averaged 16.4 points and his injury, McCollough didn't score more than seven points in any game.